


Under the Zoo Lights

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: 25 Days of Star Wars [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adoption, Dad!Poe, F/M, Fluff, Human Child!BB8, Mainly a dad!Poe fic, Past Poe/Zorri, Pre-Relationship, Zookeeper!Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21654640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: Beren "Bee" Dameron wants to go see the Zoo Lights, and Poe is all too happy to take his son to the event on a chilly Friday evening. He expects to have a great night with his kid, see some cool animals, and maybe learn a thing or two.What he doesn't expect is the very pretty zookeeper who's raising the new lion cub.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Series: 25 Days of Star Wars [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560265
Comments: 41
Kudos: 157





	Under the Zoo Lights

**Author's Note:**

> 25 DAYS OF STAR WARS CONTINUES
> 
>  **Warning**  
>  The fic is rated T for a more 'adult' theme:  
> Zorri didn't want to raise Beren, so she brought him to Poe, who she'd broken up with before getting pregnant. Poe is not Bee's biological father, but adopted him when Zorri made it clear she didn't want to raise him.
> 
> Bee questions his parentage in flashback, and compares himself to the lion cub who had been rejected by his mother - an angsty component to the storyline that's mostly fluff, but I wanted to bump the rating just in case.

December was finally here, which meant that Poe could indulge in some peppermint mocha; he drank at least three cups to get through his day waiting for the school bus to drop Beren off. 

Friday was a special day at the Dameron house; Beren and Poe took turns picking their activity to celebrate the start of the weekend, and even if Beren, more often than not, fell asleep halfway through the evening, Poe would carry his son home, his head of flaming red hair nestled on his shoulder. Poe treasured his time with his son, and he was particularly excited for today’s activity, which Beren had selected very regally last night as they surfed the internet for ideas.

Poe’s alarm went off: 3:40. It was time to meet the kid at the bus stop. He snagged his keys and coat, and looped his scarf around his neck as he jogged down the stairs of their apartment building, trying not to be a total loser as he forced himself not to run to the corner. 

The school bus pulled up right on time, spitting out copious amounts of gas from its tailpipe as it neared the corner, and Poe’s breath fogged in front of him as he bounced up on and down on the balls of his feet, trying to stay warm. Thankfully, it hadn’t snowed yet in Coruscant, but he had a feeling it was only a few weeks away. Dreams of a snowy Winter Break for the Dameron clan filled his head, and with Kes flying in from Guatemala, Poe wanted it to be double-special for his family.

With the doors hissing open, Poe readied himself, crouching down, hands extended as if waiting for the snap in football. A few kids jumped off the last step, giggling as they saw him -  _ “Hi, Mr. Dameron! _ ” some of them shouted, waving merrily - but Poe only had eyes for Beren, who spotted him from the top of the steps, the gap in his teeth showing miraculously as he beamed.

“Daddy!” He flew down the steps and threw himself into Poe’s arms.

“Bee!” Poe kissed his head a dozen times, drinking in the sound of his son’s sweet giggles. “Oh my God, you’re getting too big for this!”

“Am not!” Beren made a face. “I’m the most shortest in first grade!”

“Well, you’re almost as big as me,” Poe lied. Beren giggled, and held his hand to the top of his head when Poe set him back down on the ground; he measured out the space carefully, his head landing somewhere near Poe’s navel. 

“You’re short too, Daddy,” Beren pointed out. “And I’ll be way taller than you some day.”

“When you hit your growth spurt,” Poe agreed.

“When I hit my growth slurp.” Bee grabbed Poe’s hand, and they walked down the sidewalk together. “Are we still gonna go to the zoo?”

“You bet.” Poe opened the door for Beren, and the first grader clambered through the door and clattered up the stairs, his Paw Patrol backpack jostling with every step. “Slow down! Have mercy on your old man!”

“Never!” 

“Ugh.” Poe jogged up the steps, ignoring the twinge in his knee that had never gone away from his time as a fighter pilot. He refused to be left in the dust by his six-year-old, though. “No more candy in your lunches.”

Bee giggled and hung on the doorknob of 3A until Poe got the key in the lock; he swung the door open, Bee still more or less attached to the knob, and they tumbled into the apartment. 

“Backpack,” Poe reminded his son as he jetted off across the living room towards the aquarium.

“Zoooom,” Beren corrected course towards the hooks on the wall, two at Bee-Height for his coat and backpack, and two at Poe’s height for his keys, coat, and scarf. They both kicked off their shoes and put them in the small box near the door, and then they walked to the aquarium, Poe less successful in avoiding the Legos scattered on the floor.

“Ouch! Hey - buddy, let’s clean these up in the next fifteen minutes, okay?”

“Okay.” Beren was already distracted by his fish. His nose was pressed up against the glass, eyes wide. “Did you guys miss me?”

“They missed you.” Poe tousled Bee’s hair and then crouched down. “Especially Eggbert.”

Eggbert, the majestic Bloodfin Tetra, floated past and flashed a fin towards Beren.

“I love you, Eggbert,” Beren said, eyes wide.

“He loves you too, honey.” Poe kissed Beren’s temple, and Beren giggled.

“Fish kiss!” He demanded.

Poe snorted and tried to mimic the strange-kissy-face of the fish eating, and Beren squealed with laughter before trying it himself. They were both laughing as Poe rolled over to grab the bucket of Legos.

“Clean-up on Aisle Six.” He held the bucket out and helped Beren scoop up some of his scattered Lego blocks, which had been dispersed following a tragic explosion on Beren’s spaceship last night. 

“Do you think we’ll see an elephant tonight?” Beren asked, dumping the last of his Legos into the container.

“Mmm, maybe?” 

“A  _ lion _ ?!”

“I hope so.” Poe tilted his head and gasped at the big bucket in his hands. “Holy cow - you did such a good job cleaning up!”

“Yeah?” Beren giggled and dug his hands through the Legos, no doubt thrilled by the rattle and clatter of the bricks against the sides of the container. 

“Such a good job! In fact, I think … I think you should pick where we go to dinner,” Poe decreed graciously.

“No!” Bee’s eyes were wide, as if he didn’t pick what they ate  _ most  _ nights. 

“Yes!”

“Mmmmmm…” Beren seemed to think about it, but Poe knew his answer before he said it. “Let’s...go to Maz’s!”

“Maz’s it is. Let’s get you washed up and changed before we head out, huh?”

Beren giggled and jumped to his feet, taking off down the hall towards his room; he made roaring airplane noises the whole way, and Poe shook his head -  _ Maz’s. I tell my kid he can go anywhere for dinner and he wants to go to Maz’s, where I’m pretty sure the mold on the walls has achieved sentience  _ \- before going to start the bath.

* * *

They ended up walking from Maz’s to the Coruscant Zoo, to try and work off some of the sleepiness born of eating one’s weight in chicken tenders (Beren, not Poe. Poe ate half a burger and some fries, like a normal person. Beren.).

Poe swung Beren’s hand back and forth as they walked down the street, talking about their favorite animals, and Beren kept doing an odd little one-two-hop-skip-jump shuffle as they neared the zoo entrance and the crowds thickened.

“Stay with me, buddy.” Poe tightened his grip on Beren’s hand, a flare of his old anxiety coming back with the crowds. “If you let go of Daddy’s hand, what should you do?”

“Stay still!” Beren reported. “Or if it’s unsafe, shout!”

“That’s right, buddy.” Poe and Beren worked their way through the crowd, their tickets tight in Poe’s other hand; he handed them over when they reached the attendants at the front gate, and then they were in.

“ _ Woooow _ !” Bee was totally breathless as he looked around at the transformed zoo. 

Twinkling lights were hanging off every tree and wrapped around most enclosures. Lights were twisted up into the shapes of various zoo animals: lions, tigers, elephants, zebras, and pandas. Beren tugged Poe from animal to animal, his face lit up with joy and the color-change lights.

“I think there’s a new lion cub,” Poe said, reading a paragraph on the map he’d gotten when they walked in. “Like a baby lion, Bee. Wanna-”

“BABY? LION?” Thank God they were outside because Poe was sure his eardrums would have ruptured indoors. “YESSS!”

They headed down towards the Big Cats part of the zoo, ooo-ing at the other Zoo Lights exhibits on their way. Cheerful music blasted from the speakers, with various holiday music playing, the lyrics swapped for zoo-appropriate language.

“ _ Just hear those pandas munching, all day crunching on bamboo! Come on it’s lovely weather for an ostrich feather with youu!!’ _

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Poe grumbled to himself. “Hey, look! Lions!” He pointed up at the sign overhead, and he and Bee took the appropriate left. 

“When did the lion have her baby?” Bee asked innocently as they neared the enclosure. Two dozen or so other attendees were gathered by the gate as well. 

“It says that this lion cub was born two months ago,” Poe read from the map. His feet stumbled over each other for a second. “And, uh … he was rejected by his mama, so … so they’ve had a special zookeeper raising him.”

“Rejected?” Beren sounded the word out, nose wrinkled. “What does that mean.”

“It means, uh,”  _ Keep your cool, Dameron,  _ “it means his mother didn’t want to … be his mother.”

“Oh.” Beren stared at his shoes, their pace slowing. “...Like my mom?” 

“Hey.” Poe stopped and pulled Beren aside, out of the way of some of the pushing patrons. He knelt down and smiled at Bee, hoping there weren’t tears in his eyes. “That’s … that’s not it, buddy. It’s not.”

“She left.” Beren smiled sadly and looked over his shoulder to the lion, until Poe tapped him on the chest and he turned back around. “She … didn’t wanna be my mom.”

“It was … I mean…” Poe couldn’t lie to Beren. Zorri Bliss had - she’d … otherwise prioritized her time when Beren was born. 

She’d shown up out of nowhere, a year and a half after they broke up, and handed him a three month old child.  _ “You’ll be better at this than me,”  _ she’d said. Poe liked to think there’d been actual regret in her eyes.  _ “So. Do better than me.”  _ He’d called after her, but he hadn’t heard from her again, except when she showed up to officially sign the papers approving Poe as the legal guardian, and then father of Beren. 

Poe hadn’t lied to Beren about his past: he couldn’t. Beren had flaming red hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Poe couldn’t look less like him. And also, just because Bee was young didn’t mean he didn’t deserve (some modified version of) the truth when he asked legitimate questions, like,  _ Will says you don’t look like my dad, why is that?  _ Or  _ Mrs. Alvarez says I’m adopted, what does that mean?  _

“Hey buddy.” Poe ducked his hand under Beren’s chin and smiled at him, his eyes wet, when he looked up. “I love you, more than anything in the whole world. And - I’m so lucky I get to be your dad. Anyone would be lucky to be your parent, kid, okay? I mean it.”

Bee nodded, his chin trembling.

“Do you wanna go home, bud?” Poe wiped a loose tear from Bee’s round cheek with his thumb and then smoothed down his hair. “Huh? It’s okay if you do.”

“I wanna … see the lions,” Bee mumbled, looking at his shoes. 

“Yeah?” Poe smiled and Beren smiled back, shyly. He nodded.

Poe stood and offered Beren his hand, and they neared the gates as the speakers announced that Dio was about to come out.

“Did you hear that?” Poe shook Beren’s hand lightly. “The baby’s name is Dio.”

“I wanna tell Dio that I love him.” Bee stared at the enclosure with round eyes, and Poe snorted. 

He thought about offering to put Beren on his shoulders for a better view, but he saw that there was a little bit of space at the front of the crowd, and he nudged Bee, pointing it out. They rearranged themselves without any fuss, and Beren leaned against Poe’s legs while watching with wide eyes and bated breath.

The side door to the enclosure lifted, and out came a gorgeous white lion cub …

And a gorgeous young woman.

Poe coughed and looked down, his cheeks heating up when she seemed to look right at him.

A second later though, and she was waving to the crowd.

“Hello!” She greeted them. Oh great. She had a British accent and a lovely, melodic voice. That was. Fine. Poe was fine with this. “Dio says hi, too. Thanks for coming to Zoo Lights!”

There was some cheering in the crowd, and the woman laughed, turning her head to smile at Dio. She had her hair up in three odd buns, that somehow worked with her profile, and her smile showed off deep dimples that were unfairly cute on top of an already beautiful face.

_ Get it. Together. _

“My name is Rey, and I’m a zookeeper here at the zoo. Now, how many months old do you think my friend is?”

“Three!” A kid in the crowd shouted.

“Six!!”

“Two!” Beren shouted, louder than everyone else, and Rey clapped her hands and beamed. 

“Right! Who said that?”

Beren waved his hand at her, and Rey peered out into the crowd, shading her eyes with her hand as if that would help her under the twinkling lights, and she waved at Beren. 

“You’re totally right! Thank you!” 

Bee sighed and leaned back harder against Poe’s leg. Poe patted his hair anxiously, wondering if he was imagining that Rey’s eyes flickered to his face.

But, she was turning away and pulling some toys out, Dio taking total interest in her suddenly. At one point during her explanation of enrichment, he grabbed onto her calf, causing a gasp to ripple through the crowd, but Rey just laughed and waved it off.

“Oh, that’s totally fine. It’s why I’m the only person allowed in here - I’m wearing a few layers, and I know it would actually hurt if I pulled away too quickly. But Dio here is a good friend of mine.” She bent down slightly and petted between his ears, Dio’s eyes closing in bliss. “I’ve been bottle-feeding this guy, and he seems to think that’s pretty great. In a bit though, he’ll be too big for even me to play with, so I gotta enjoy it now while he’s young!”

Rey continued to play with Dio, and even answered some questions from the crowd as she also wove in some tidbits about Coruscant’s attempts to help out with conservation, and as she neared the end of the half hour segment - Poe as equally entranced as the five- to ten-year-olds present - Beren raised his hand.

“Yes?” Rey pointed at him, smiling wide. “My smart friend, right there!”

Beren grabbed Poe’s leg as if it were an anchor as he said, breathlessly, “I love Dio with my whole heart, and I think he’s beautiful-” Poe smiled and rubbed Bee’s curls, “And I think  _ you’re  _ beautiful, too!”

_ Crap.  _

“Uh, Beren,” Poe coughed and tapped his son’s shoulder, his face heating up unbearably. “We don’t usually say that to women we don’t know-”

“That’s so sweet of you.” Rey smiled at Beren, and then at Poe, who floundered in embarrassment. “I think we can all agree that Dio is just absolutely lovely, right?” Everyone cheered, and Rey laughed.

She and Dio did one more trick, where she had him climb up onto a bunch of crates and then jump down into her arms (her muscular arms, Poe noted faintly, her strong, muscular arms, Oh Lord, he was going to swoon, what was he, a Gothic heroine?) as all the kids in the audience whooped and laughed. 

Rey curtsied, still holding Dio in her arms, and the lion swatted at her shoulder playfully as Rey carried him back inside.

The crowd dispersed, and Poe and Beren walked away slowly, until Bee noticed a series of informational plaques surrounding the entrance to the Lion enclosure area.

“What does that say?” Beren asked, squinting at the words.

“White Lions are a critically endangered group, as their white color is recessive and very rare in the wild,” Poe read.

“What does crit-ic-al-ly en-dangered mean?”

“Uh, it means that there’s not a lot of them left, I’m pretty sure,” Poe said.

Beren made a face. “Why is that?”

“Because not everyone cares about nature the way I’m sure you do.” 

Both Damerons turned to see Rey, the zookeeper, smiling at them. She pointed at the sign. “Critically endangered means scientists think they’ll go extinct very soon, if good people don’t do something to change it.”

“Extinct.” Bee made a face. “That sounds bad.”

“It is bad.” Rey smiled at Bee, and then over at Poe. She was even prettier up close. Great. “But, my mentor and I have been working with them for a while now, and we’re hoping we can reintroduce some to the wild in the next few years to help their numbers grow.”

“Wow.” Beren’s eyes were huge. “Will Dio go to the wild?”

“Maybe.” Rey seemed to think about that for a second, which Poe appreciated. “I’ll miss him a lot when he goes though, but if we decide it’s best for him, and best for the other lions, then it’ll make it much easier.”

Beren nodded solemnly.

“Do you like animals?” Rey asked in a way that wasn’t sweet, but also was, somehow. 

“I  _ love _ animals.” Bee’s eyes were massive. 

“That’s good! And your dad does too?” Rey smiled at Poe, who remembered he was supposed to say something. 

“Uh. Yeah. I mean. Yes. Love ‘em. Big fan.” He winced and held his hand out. “I’m Poe, by the way. Poe Dameron.”

Rey took his hand and shook it firmly, and Poe didn’t miss the way Bee looked up between them, eyeing their hands shaking with a strangely sneaky look. 

_ Oh, no, buddy. Don’t do it.  _

“I’m Beren Dameron,” Bee chirped, holding his hand out to Rey as well. Rey took it with an air of great dignity and shook twice. “Only, everyone calls me Bee because they don’t like Beren.”

“Impossible! I love Beren. And Lùthien, too.” Rey smiled up at Poe, whose heart fluttered twice as fast. 

“Who’s that?” Bee tilted his head, and Rey snorted. 

“Only the most beautiful woman who ever walked Middle Earth,” Rey said calmly. 

_ Oh, Poe was so screwed. _

“Dad.” Bee tugged on Poe’s belt loop until Poe glanced down at him. “C’mere,” Bee hissed. Poe bent down so Bee could whisper theatrically in his ear. “Tell her  _ she’s  _ the most beautiful woman who ever walked the middle of the Earth!”

Rey giggled behind her hand, and Poe’s ears flushed deep red again. “Uhhh.” Poe winced and laughed as well. “I think she heard you, buddy.”

“Good!” Bee whispered. “Because you didn’t say it.”

“So.” Poe straightened up and reconsidered letting Bee drink some of his Diet Coke at dinner. “Um, I’m sure we’re … taking up a lot of your time. We should uh - be getting out of your hair.”

“Of course.” Rey eyed the enclosure with a sigh. “I have some cleaning up to do before I can clock out, anyway. It was very nice to meet you, Beren Dameron.” She smirked at Poe. “You too, Poe Dameron.”

“Yeah,” Poe breathed, knocked over in a second flat, all over again. “I hope … cleaning goes well. Like, quickly, I mean. Um.”

“Right.” Rey looked like she was trying hard not to laugh.

“Is this why you don’t have a girlfriend?” Bee whispered, way too loud for comfort again, and Poe screamed internally, loud enough for his kidneys to vibrate. 

“Buddy.”

“Well, if you two come back to the zoo anytime soon, I’d be happy to show you some behind-the-scenes stuff,” Rey offered. Poe stared at her, his eyes wide. Her cheeks were slightly pink, but she was smiling. 

Her eyes darted to Beren pretty quickly when she caught Poe staring at her.

“Really?” Beren exhaled the word, looking like Rey had just told him Christmas and his birthday had just come early.

“Really.” Rey smiled down at him. “I must encourage budding young biologists. It’s part of my job.” 

“Wow.” 

“That’s really nice of you,” Poe said earnestly. “Thanks, Rey. We’d love that.”

“Okay then.” Rey pulled some keys that were hanging from a carabiner looped through her belt. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Rey!”

“Bye,” Poe echoed, a little more faintly than his kid. 

Rey waved at them both and then headed towards the enclosure.

Poe stared at Beren for a solid three seconds, waiting for the door to close behind Rey before he whooped and picked him up off the ground, spinning him in a circle.

“You are  _ so  _ lucky that went well!” Poe half-shouted, well aware that Rey could probably hear them. Whatever; he’d sacrificed a lot of dignity already tonight.

Bee giggled and patted Poe’s arms before he set him down on the ground. They headed off towards the main part of the zoo, Poe’s heart skipping a few beats in his chest at the memory of how prettily Rey had smiled under the zoo lights. 

“Dad?”

“Hm?” Poe looked down at Beren, who was squinting as though deep in thought. 

“...if you and Rey get married, does that mean Dio will be my brother?”

“Beren Bey Dameron, you need to slow down.”

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING! 
> 
> 23 DAYS TO GO


End file.
